Cutting apparatus



March 20, 1956 L. c. STEARMAN ET AL CUTTING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 8,1953 United States latetrt Mssg-639i p CUTTWGAPPARATUS" Ilyd C.Starman-V and- William E.=Hr'nel, Dos.I Palos,

Calif., assignors. to Allen C.. Wait:trstee ofthe estate ofSteannanfHamel, Inc., a` corporation of-Galiiornia ApplicationSeptemb'er'S; 19513,;` SerllNo. 373,'.7515 i 4` claims. (c1. stt-e291quently this gummed up material must be removed necessitating a tediousscraping or soaking operation since normal, periodic lubrication is notadequate to prevent this gumming up.

In general, it is an object of our invention to provide an improvedcutting apparatus which will prevent gumming of the sickle yhar due toaccumulation of dirt and plant juices and other foreign material on thesicklebar.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved device ofthis kind which will make the mowing machine easier to operate and atthe same time prolong the life of the sickle bar.

A further object of the invention is to provide adequate lubrication tothe moving parts of the cutting apparatus.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will appear from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my sickle bar.

. Figure 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along the line 2--2of Figure 1.

In general our invention consists of a cutting apparatus wherein itsmoving parts are supplied with adequate lubrication to prevent theaccumulation of foreign matter on the sickle bar and the cutting bladesand also to reduce friction.

The embodiment of our cutting apparatus shown in the drawing consists ofa carrier bar which is adapted to be mounted upon a mowingmachine. Ahousing 11 formed of a U-shaped member is mounted yon the carrier thehousing and have their respective ends connected to conventionaloperating means 17 for reciprocating the sickle bar assemblieslongitudinally of the housing in opposite directions with respect toeach other.

Each of the sickle bar assemblies 13and` 14 is comprised of a sickle bar18 and a plurality of cuttingblades 19 mounted side by side lengthwiseof the sickle bar by suitable means such as rivets 21. The inner cuttingfaces of the cutting blades dene a cutting plane 22 therebetween.`

An elongated grease container 26 is mounted within the housing to therear of the sickle bar assemblies and forms the rear wall of a guidewayfor the sickle bar assemblies. The grease container has` an elongatedgrease delivery slot 27 in communication with the rear edges of thecutting blades. The grease container is 2,738,639 Piatented Mar. 20,1956 ICC . 2- tixe'd within the housing"l b'stiitablemeans such asrivets 281 A'ny'suitable ni'e'ansmabeprovided"for delivering grease`tothe' grease' container such as pressure grease gun -tting`s '29.

A- pair of -bar-like1 members 31 andi 32are mounte'do'n theYV frontportion of thehousingY 11 by-v suitable' means such as screws A33'andfor'm' `theffront wall of thefgudeway for the-sickle bara-'ssembliesi The-cutting'-blades'19-'of the sickle "bar'assemblieseittehdvthrough an elongated slot 342' defi'iiedA bylrne'mbe'rs'-4 31 and`r l` 3Zv It" can be" seen that the? U-shapedhousinglil; thefiont' wallofgreasee con'- tainer 26 andf thef-bar-likemembeisSIa'ndiSZ*v serve'to d'etie! a rctafngularlyf sliapetl guid'evf'ayf` forVAtlie' sickle bar assemblies 13 and 14.

The banlike members 31 and 32 serve as grease retainers in a mannerhereinafter described. They may be removed to facilitate easy removal ofthe sickle bar assemblies 13 and 14.

Operation of our device may now be briey described as follows:

Let it be assumed that suiiicient grease has been inserted into greaseretainer 26 through the grease gun ttings 29. The grease will tend toflow out of grease dispensing slot 27 into the running clearancesbetween the cutting blades and between the sickle bars and the housing.lt will be appreciated Vthat the sickle bar assemblies are rather snuglymounted within the guideway, however, there are suftcient clearances(often termed running clearances) between the guideway and the sicklebar assemblies to allow reciprocation of the sickle bar assemblies. Thegrease from the dispensing slot will flow into these run ningclearances, particularly when the sickle bar assemblies are beingreciprocated.

The grease dispensing slot 27 is in contact with the rear edge of thecutting blades, and so grease will also be urged into the clearancesbetween the cutting blades.

Since the grease will have a tendency to progress from the greasecontainer into the running clearances toward the front portion of thecutting blades, the grease will serve to prevent foreign material suchas plant juices, dirt and the like from entering into these runningclearances while the mower is being operated. Thus, .the grease in thegrease container keeps the moving parts of our cutting apparatus welllubricated at all times and at the same time prevents the entrance offoreign matter.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that we have provided an improvedcutting apparatus wherein lubrication is provided for all slidingsurfaces and at the same time prevents the accumulation of foreignmatter thereby preventing excessive friction and wear to the movingparts.

We claim:

1. In a cutting apparatus, a pair of superposed sickle bar assemblies, ahousing enclosing said sickle bar assemblies, means at the correspondingends of said sickle bar assemblies for reciprocating the samelongitudinally within the housing in opposite directions with respect toeach other, each of said sickle bar assemblies comprising a sickle barand a plurality of cutting blades mounted side by side lengthwise of thebar, the cutting blades of the sickle bars defining a cutting planetherebetween, an elongated grease retainer within said housing mountedto the rear of said sickle bar assemblies, said grease retainer havingan elongated grease delivery slot in communication with the rear edgesof said cutting blades, and means for delivering grease to said greaseretainer.

2. lApparatus as in claim 1 wherein the front wall of the elongatedgrease container serves as the rear wall of guideway means for saidsickle bar assemblies.

3. In a cutting apparatus, a pair of superposed sickle bar assemblies, ahousing enclosing said sickle bar assemblies, means at the correspondingends of said sickle bar assemblies for reciprocating the samelongitudinally of the housing and in opposite directions with respect toeach other, each of said sickle bar assemblies comprising a sickle barand a plurality of cutting blades mounted side by side lengthwise of thebar, the cutting blades of the sickle bars defining a cutting planetherebetween, an elongated grease retainer mounted in said housing tothe rear of said sickle bar assemblies, said grease retainer having anelongated grease delivery slot in communication with the rear edges ofsaid cutting blades, means for delivering grease to said greaseretainer, and a pair of bar-like members mounted in said housing to thefront of said sickle bar assemblies and defining an elongated slotthrough which the cutting blades extend.

4. Cutting apparatus as in claim 3 wherein the housing,

UNITED STATES PATENTS 295,814 Roth Mar. 25, 1884 375,237 Wardall Dec.20, 1887 378,033 Haynes Sept. 1, 1903 834,969 Clarkson Nov. 6, 1906855,645 Kryger June 4, 1907 1,083,072 Ferbrache Dec. 30, 1913 1,816,868Pn'vat Aug. 4, 1931 2,146,399 Landrey Feb. 7, 1939

